We're moving along at about half-strength around here. One by one the girls are dropping to the same cold as it moves through each of them. This morning, Mary was the victim. Unfortunately hers is a mix of a migraine and the cold. So I'm chained to the sofa while we work through the worst of the migraine. (I've briefly talked about Mary's migraines here, and there is some great information from people in the comments....)

But despite the general dragging around here, we were miraculously blessed with a window of health on Tuesday so that our whole family could have a once-in-a-lifetime tour of The Capitol in Washington, DC.

My mother has become good friends with a sweet and spunky 72 year old woman who is the wife of a former, now deceased Congressman. Her name is Ruth and she is the darling of The Capitol.

With Ruth as our guide we were taken on a special behind-the-scenes tour where guards waved us past "authorized personnel only" barriers with a smile.

We took communion in the Capitol chapel. Walked out onto the floor of the Congress. Stood on the private balcony of the Speaker of the House. Bumped shoulders with Mitch McConnell (almost literally). Rode a tram underground to the senate cafeteria (cafeteria is by far the wrong terminology in this case) and lunched on Senate Bean Soup and Bread Pudding to get the full experience (per Ruth's advice).

Though I had my moment of almost-meltdown holding a wailing Birdy who was well beyond tired and unwilling to put up with more touring. Standing in the hallway shushing and bouncing, with the stares and the "there's never a BABY in here" looks, feeling so far removed from these classy, important, put-together people...eventually we both recovered.

The day was forever memorable. The city, beautiful. And Mary was inspired to become a Congresswoman--primarily for the fancy clothes you get to wear each day and the sundae bar in the cafeteria.

That's my girl.